American Samoa, hard hit by the 2009 tsunami, will receive nearly $100 million from the federal government for emergency management systems improvements.

The money will pay for an early warning siren system, a 911 emergency call center and completion of a formal tsunami hazard plan, which the island used to help attain the TsunamiReady FEMA designation.

TsunamiReady communities must establish a 24-hour warning operations center, develop multiple ways to receive tsunami warnings and alert the public, develop a formal tsunami hazard plan, conduct emergency exercises and promote public readiness through community education, FEMA said in a news release. "Given that American Samoa is located 120 miles away from the Tonga Trench, one of the fastest moving subduction zones in the world, tsunami readiness is paramount to the island’s safety posture," FEMA said.

The Sept. 29, 2009, tsunami that slammed South Pacific islands was generated by a series of earthquakes that took place at possibly the closest point of this trench to American Samoa, causing fatalities and regional devastation.

A TsunamiReady ceremony for the Territory of American Samoa and the National Park of American Samoa is planned for the Maota Samoa at Utulei Beach on Friday, a day before the third anniversary of the devastating tsunami.